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| Sunday, 8 December 2002 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Moratuwa St. Sebastian's College, back to Archbishop St. Sebastian's College, Moratuwa which withstood the test of time for over 147 long years in serving Millions of Catholics living along the coastal belt south of Colombo, was handed back to His Grace the Archbishop who is the proprietor of the school. This became a necessity as the La Sallian Brothers have diminished in numbers and personnel of high quality and this has compelled the La Sallian Congregation to give the school back to Archbishop. One must specially be thankful to Rev. Brother Visitor for this courageous decision taken when he was convinced of the difficulty in running the school any longer with very limited resources. No doubt his desire to keep this school private, as expressed in a circular addressed to his community recently, deserves appreciation. It is in this situation that the school is faced with yet another milestone of its history as His Grace has agreed to accept the school and decided to hand over the management and its administration back to the Reverend Priests who were the founders of this institute. This has been in keeping with the policy of His Grace the Archbishop who is an educationalist with a vision. One must be particularly conscious of the fact that His Grace has already expressed the kind of vision His Grace has in mind for the development of St. Sebastian's College. This no doubt is a recognition of the fact that Catholics of Moratuwa deserve a better education which caters to all their educational and vocational requirements. Thus the proposed institutes that are due to come up in the school is expected to cater even to the tertiary educational requirements of young school leavers along the coastal belt. The necessity to have a Catholic University in Sri Lanka is long felt and it is the wish of the Catholic Community here, that this could well be the stepping stone for the establishment of the future University. The school history reads that it began its long trek at a building adjacent to the St. Sebastian's Church of Moratuwa. The school was run by the priests and the incumbent parish priest of Moratuwa was the ex officio Principal of the school during this period. Over the years the demand for the school grew to considerable heights as this was the only Catholic Boys School between Colombo and Kalutara. The necessity to have more buildings and class rooms was also growing and the school was shifted to the Chevalier Walauwa where the Police Station is currently established. It is here, in 1926, that the La Sallian Brothers took over the administration of the school as it was probably difficult for the parish priest to run the parish and a school of that magnitude, by then situated away from the Church Premises. Since then, the school has grown from strength to strength and the De La Salle Brothers in the past have toiled relentlessly to serve the Catholic Community in and around Moratuwa in their educational requirements. The people of Moratuwa remain grateful to these Christian Brothers for they with the help of the Old Boys and Well Wishers, held the reins through most difficult periods in running this school particularly from 1961 to 1977. In a final note, it must be stated here that over a half a million Catholics living along the coastal belt South of Colombo, deeply appreciate the gesture of His Grace and are praying to God that the hand of His Grace be blessed and strengthen in this endeavour to achieve the vision in converting St. Sebastian's College to what it ought to be. |
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